


Fireworks over Sumida River

by mywasteddream



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Friendship, Romantic Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-18 23:20:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11884977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mywasteddream/pseuds/mywasteddream
Summary: Floating amidst the sea of people walking towards Sumida River, Jun feels lost. The roads that he thought knew quite well look so different from amidst the crowd. He lets himself be guided by the flow and the security staff trying to direct people to the viewing area. He is not usually the type of person to come to such event alone. He usually has a group of people around him, friends he hangs out with on regular basis, those fashionable people who make others nicknamed him ikemen hub. But today he is alone among the crowds in Asakusa, trying to reach the banks of Sumida River for the fireworks.





	Fireworks over Sumida River

Floating amidst the sea of people walking towards Sumida River, Jun feels lost. The roads that he thought knew quite well look so different from amidst the crowd. He lets himself be guided by the flow and the security staffs who are trying to direct people to the viewing area.

He is not usually the type of person to come to such event alone. He usually has a group of people around him, friends he hangs out with on regular basis, those fashionable people who make others nicknamed him  _ikemen hub_. But today he is alone among the crowds in Asakusa, trying to reach the banks of Sumida River for the fireworks.

He just did not expect that these many people would show up. He knows well that the firework festival at Sumida River is the most famous, the oldest, and perhaps the one with most spectators, but he did not expect that he would have to fight for a place to stand even before the clock stroke 3 pm. It was, after all, quieter years ago.

The weather is scorching hot at the end of July. It is not yet the peak of summer heat in Tokyo, but his phone already sent out an alarm to remind people to keep hydrating and refrain from staying outdoors for a long period. Jun stays walking under the afternoon sun, nevertheless. His bag is filled with two liters of sports drink and a couple of snacks. He knows he will need it despite the rows of vending machines along the way. He also has his umbrella inside the backpack, just in case the heat becomes too unbearable. His head is covered by a large-brimmed hat already and his white shirt has long sleeves, draped loosely over a striped t-shirt, ready to protect him from the burning summer sun.

He turns left to the embankment just in front of Yebisu Beer Hall. A volunteer for the firework show blaring the crowds with a warning to not mark the place before four and repeats that those who wish to wait for the time to mark their place should wait in line at several parking pockets around the area. Everywhere he looks, it's just sea of people.

Jun decides to keep walking.

“Matsumoto Jun-san?” asks a young woman in pink  _yukata_  who suddenly appears next to him.

He is startled but gains his stance right away. He smiles despite knowing that the mask and the reflective sunglasses that he wears do not let the the lady sees his facial expression.

“I just want to say that I love your work, especially your theatrical plays,” the woman says as she extends her hand. “Can I shake your hand?”

Jun nods as he takes her hand and gives a strong handshake. “Thank you for your support. I am very happy.”

She beams. Then she excuses herself, saying that she must have bothered Jun in his private time and leaves towards a group of young ladies in colorful  _yukata_. Jun waves at them and grins as he sees them giggling and blushing. They all bow slightly at each other and part.

People tend to notice him despite trying to be discreet, like wearing sunglasses and a cap. His friend, a TV talent, Aiba Masaki, told him it must be because he carries star aura. He had laughed at that when Masaki said it in front of the camera the first time. It reminded him of Nino.

Nino was the first one who said that to him.

  

“You have the aura of a star.”

  

That was probably twenty years ago. They were only fourteen, members of their junior high school baseball club where Jun was the catcher and Nino was the pitcher. Their team won the regional tournament, becoming Kanto’s number one. Nino was the team’s ace, as it was not easy to read an ambidextrous pitcher. But he was not noticed by people who were not baseball fans. The girls in school cheered more on Jun, the team’s catcher who wore a helmet on games and faced his back to the audience. The junior high school girls would scream Jun’s name for being cute and when they reached high school, the girls screamed that Jun was looking cool when he crouched behind the home base.

 

Jun looks at his watch. It is still four, still a few hours until the fireworks started. The security people still have not allowed people to put their sheets on the embankment although the number of people who are waiting in line is already overflowing. He knows he will need to enter one of those queues if he wants to sit down in best places to see the fireworks, but he keeps walking.

To be honest, he does not remember where to go. It has been seventeen years and his memories of that day are already vague. He is not sure if his memory of making a promise to meet here actually happened.

 

It was Nino who said it, “Let's meet here then, seventeen years from now, Jun.” His eyes crinkled as he said that. Nino's right hand held a bottle of  _ramune_ , another holding a skewer of grilled squid.

It was Nino who said it, so Jun was not sure if Nino meant it. Of all people, Nino could easily say a lie and looked like he was honest, said the truth yet looking like he faked it. Jun thought that if anyone deserved to be an actor more than him, it would be Nino. He managed to fool Jun that he and another boy in the team were cousins for the whole semester when they first entered the junior high school baseball team. He would lie from time to time after that too, making Jun unsure how to read Nino correctly.

Nino said it on the night they went out to see fireworks at Sumida River, just a few days before Jun’s seventeenth birthday, in the middle of their last summer as schoolmates.

Come winter semester, Jun would transfer to another school that had an easier schedule since he started his new life as an actor. He was scouted during the spring break when he went to Harajuku with some other friends. A man stopped him and asked if he would like his photo taken for a street culture magazine. Then everything rolled from there. His picture took almost one page and then someone from an agency called if Jun wanted to be a talent.

Jun and Nino went to the festival after the school team baseball training. That year they only got the third place in regional and failed to go to Koshien. The tournament season was already over for them. It made Jun sad because it was his last stride of baseball athlete and he would never make it to the prestigious competition. Nino still had another year to try in his third year, but Jun knew he was sad because he would have to go without Jun.

The banks of Sumida River was already overflowing with people when they arrived. There was no place to sit down, so they decided to just walk along the river through the thickening crowd in the summer night heat.

Nino fell quiet after he said the words. He continued chewing his grilled squid, complaining a little that the meat was rather hard to eat. Jun just stared at his friend. He had a bowl of  _jaga butter_  with tons of mayonnaise and Worcester sauce in his hands and he raised an eyebrow at Nino.

“I should ask your autograph now before you become famous,” Nino chirped again in between his chewing, this time in a lighter tone than before.

Jun wanted to say that it's gross to eat and talk at the same time but he said instead, “Nobody knows whether I’m going to make it or not.”

Nino gave a gummy grin. “You received chocolates from all the girls in the class. Of course, you will make it.”

“That was in kindergarten.”

“You’re still our star, Jun.” Nino took a sip of his  _ramune_. “You steal those girls from me even though I am the ace of the team.”

Jun laughed. “Yeah, right. I stole everyone from you.”

They arrived at a small opening where the people thinned out. The air felt a little cooler and fresher there.

“You stole everyone from me,” Nino repeated as he stopped walking.

There was a moment of pause before Nino spoke again.

“You also steal my Jun from me,” he continued very slowly that Jun thought he imagined it.

Jun stopped too and turned around. Prepared that he would find Nino laughing like the way he always made jokes and fool around. Nino who lied easily when he wanted to cover up his real feelings. Yet Nino looked at him in the eyes and not smiling.

“What?” Jun asked slowly.

Nino said nothing and if Jun was not mistaken, he saw those brown eyes glazed.

“You’re scaring me now.” Jun tried to laugh to soften the atmosphere, “Nino, say something.”

Nino took a deep breath like he was preparing himself to say something. But as he spoke, the first fireworks sparked in the sky above them and swallowed the words.

Jun’s eyes went wide as he noticed the sparks bloomed one by one in the sky. He moved closer to Nino and turned him around so Nino could see the fireworks too. He felt Nino tensed in his arms but he ignored it.

“We should go back to see better,” Jun said.

Nino nodded and grabbed his hand. “Let's go,” he said, half running back towards the river bank. The sky above lit in colors as they ran.

 

Jun can only smile at the memory. Later that night Nino cried, and he did not say that firework ashes got into his eyes. He said no pretense; that Nino who had never shed a tear when he was bullied in the elementary school, who never cried even though their team lost a competition.

“I thought I still have one more year to try for Koshien with you,” Nino said between his sobs as the final rounds of fireworks crackled above them. Then the world came to silence despite the roar of hand claps around them.

The crowd around them dispersed. People looked, but they did not stop and stare. Surely it was a sight, a young boy crying and another just staring awkwardly.

“I’m sorry,” was all Jun could say. He never thought he liked acting and modelling until he was given the chance last spring. He found that he liked it more than baseball, but he could not say it to Nino because Nino loved baseball more than anything else.

“You better make it.” Nino’s voice was raw and croaked when he spoke. "Modelling. Acting. Whatever." He was trying to wipe his eye. His face all red.

“I will.”

“And I will go to Koshien even without you.”

“You will.” Jun put a hand on Nino's head. “I know you will.”

 

But Nino did not make it to Koshien. He broke his hand during a dive on the spring tournament and was forced to stop playing. Jun called at that time, but Nino nonchalantly said that it was good because then he could concentrate on studying since they both were already in the third year of high school. Jun knew it was a lie because Nino’s laugh sounded more like a sob to Jun.

Nino stayed as Jun's best friend through his third year of high school. It was already hard to transfer in the last year, and it was even harder to suddenly enter a whole new world alone, where everyone looked so cool and yet trying to bring you down. Jun would confide to Nino when he just could not bear it anymore and Nino would listen to Jun's rants for hours even though he had a test on the next day.

It was probably thanks to Nino's silent support that Jun could overcome his insecurities as a teenage star and became the confident man that he is right now. If he did not have that safety net called a friend, he might have disappeared already.

They grew naturally apart over time as Nino went to the university and Jun started to become more famous as a talent following his graduation from high school. Their lives were too different. Jun loves the exclusive clubs and parties, branded and limited goods, the things only celebrities have access to. Nino was the type to stay alone, using his studies and normal people's life as an excuse to put down Jun's invitation to meet. Jun was constantly under surveillance of cameras and tabloids as an up and coming movie star. Nino was a very private person who would shy away when someone shows interest. It was just natural.

Jun found new people in his life; those he knew was honest and true. Most of them are in the business, sharing the same worries and interests.

  

Jun hardly thought of Nino for years. But he went back to his parents’ house just the other day and happened to meet Nino’s mother when he accompanied his mother to the shopping street in the neighborhood.

“Ara! Jun-kun!” Nino-mama said happily the way she always did when she found Jun crashing in at her house, “Look at you! Handsome as always. I really should shake your hands and brag to Kazunari.”

At the name, Jun suddenly felt nostalgic. He never called Nino that way, but he used to wonder why he never called his friend on first name basis.

They exchanged little talks; Jun, his mother, and Nino's mother. And from his mother and Nino-mama, Jun learned that Nino had moved to the city center so he could live nearer his working place. Somehow, despite the children not talking to each other anymore, the mothers still greet each other and talk whenever they meet at the shopping street.

“Kazunari just turned thirty-four, right?” Jun’s mother said then continued how she remembered that Jun was always invited over for Nino's birthday.

“Jun-kun will turn thirty-four soon too, right?” Nino's mother said after. “Kazunari used to brag, you know, right after you transferred to a different high school. He’s going to celebrate your thirty-fourth birthday like your seventeenth.” She laughed, “That kid, I never know how his brain works. I wonder if he even remembers it now.”

 

“Hey, how about we do this. It's your seventeenth birthday, right? So, seventeen for you and seventeen for me. That makes thirty-four. Let's meet here then, seventeen years from now, Jun.”

 

Those memories bring Jun back to Sumida River.

This year's firework festival is held at the end of July; a month too early for Jun's birthday. The one seventeen years ago was held on August 26th, just a few days before his birthday. It is definitely off the mark to celebrate it now, but Jun is amused because it is almost exactly in the middle between his birthday and Nino's.

Not that Nino would remember the stupid promise seventeen years ago, he thinks.

Jun smiles as he sees the first of the fireworks burst in the air. He didn't realize how the time moved faster as he dwell in his memories. Colorful sparks bloom against the darkening sky, some peeking shyly behind the trees and buildings. Jun makes his way back towards the river bank and finds a spot where he can stand.

"Might as well enjoy the show", he says to himself and looks up.

Then it starts again, nearer to where Jun is standing and he has to stay looking up to savor the view.

Of course, Nino won't come, Jun reminds himself not to put up his hope. Even if Nino comes, it is impossible to find him in such crowd, he muses as he enjoys firework blooms one after another. He stands there, rooted in his place, watching the sky lit up in colors.

By the time the festival finishes, Jun feels his eyes stings from the smoke. It makes him want to laugh because there are tears in his eyes. Walking towards where he parked his car makes him felt nostalgic of things he doesn't have anymore; like life as a normal person or simply friendship without rivalry. They feel like sparks of fireworks, bright and beautiful, but only for a moment.

“This is so uncool,” he whispers to himself when the sting in his eyes refuses to subside. He stops walking and takes his sunglasses off to wipe his eyes.

“Please keep walking,” one of the staff says and he moves to the side to keep from blocking the way.

“Isn't that guy famous?”

He hears someone says.

“It's Matsumoto Jun, right? Is he alone?”

“Isn't he the one getting in a tabloid for two timing an actress?”

“Must be a look-alike. There's no way a celebrity walking around crying like an idiot.”

He hears people whispering as they pass by.

 

"Hey, why are you crying?" someone asks him, voice clear above the murmurs of passersby.

Jun looks up.

There, right in front of him, stands Nino.

Jun gasps when he recognizes the man who looks at him with concerned eyes just two meters away in the middle of the street. There are two other people with him, both urge him to continue walking, saying that he should not overstep privacy of a stranger.

“Isn't that Matsumoto Jun?” He hears people whispering again, but this time he takes no heed. He stares back, eyes wide at the person before him.

Nino’s eyes widen as he recognizes Jun. Then he shrugs his friends away and walks closer with open arms, a smile blooms on his face.

“My mother told me she met you the other day,” he says, “I thought maybe I should just come and bet if you come here to. And here you are.”

Jun nods, still unable to say anything. The odd of meeting Nino in the middle of nine hundred fifty-seven thousand people who come for the festival.

“Happy birthday!” Nino continues, “It's one month too early, though. But I didn't know they will change the schedule this early.”

Jun laughs upon hearing that. He takes a step forward and wraps his arms around Nino. His eyes sting. This time it's definitely not from the smoke. But he can pretend.

**Author's Note:**

> Written as an early celebration for Matsujun’s birthday.
> 
>  
> 
> Just some post-notes if anyone needs it.
> 
> Ikemen hub is basically a nickname that Arashi members gave to Jun because he always know other ikemen (handsome/cool men)
> 
> Yukata is light Japanese traditional clothing, often made from cotton, usually worn in summer.
> 
> Ramune is a brand of carbonated drink, that has marble inside the bottle (Oh-chan tried to make the bottles in Arashi ni Shiyagare), a very typical drink for summer and festivals in Japan. It tastes a little like lemonade, from which the name came from.
> 
> Jaga buter is basically roughly crushed steamed potato topped with butter, often the seller gave other types of topping like mentaiko (cod roe) mayonnaise, mayonnaise, shaved dried fish, or sauce.
> 
> Koshien is a high school baseball competition held in spring and summer holidays. The most famous one is the summer Koshien, and considered as the most prestigious tournament for high school baseball. 
> 
> This year’s Sumida Fireworks Festival was held at the end of July; but the one held seventeen years ago was only a few days before Jun’s birthday. In Japan, it is normal to celebrate a birthday before the D-day. I find this thing amusing.
> 
> Oh, and Jun loves his potato salad with worcester sauce. ^_____^


End file.
